"Not again. I can't believe that little brat managed to steal one of my precious keys." Mephisto stood in Rin's empty room. The teenager snuck out every day since he had met Yukio 3 days ago. The Prince really loved being around humans. It wouldn't be that hard to find him if Mephisto knew what key Rin stole but everytime he finally discovered his whereabouts, he was at another spot than the day before. All the Demon King knew was that Rin was somewhere in True Cross Town. Certainly, Mephisto would have felt better if the Prince wouldn't have stolen some money too.
With a new pair of shades and a really cool new hat, Rin made his way through the streets of True Cross Town. He followed a sweet smell until he reached a little shop. All kinds of candy, baked goods, and sugary drinks were presented in a display.
"Amazing." Quickly, he grabbed the money in his pocket to see how much was left. "That should be enough, I guess." He stepped inside and looked around. Since he came to Assiah, he could comprehend Amaimon's sugar addiction. "Hey, I would li-" He started talking to the salesman but he interrupted him. "Not now, boy. Don't you see we have a problem here?" He grunted before yelling at a person in the back. "Did you find em' beast? How did it even come in here? I ain't know we even had raccoons in this town."
"I'm sorry, Boss. But it's just too fast." The voice of a young man sounded from a room behind.
Rin didn't know what a raccoon was since there were no normal animals in Gehenna but once he got a glimpse of it he knew that it wasn't an animal. A hobgoblin now jumped through the shop devastating it and stealing some candy.
"Maybe, I can help you." Rin offered while following the small, green demon with his eyes.
"If you catch that beast, I give you a discount on all things you're buyin'. It's been in here for days now and we just can't catch it."
"Alright!" Now the Young Prince had a real motivation. He would have helped the shopkeeper either way but he wasn't so stupid that he would reject such an offer.
He let out a sharp whistle and the hobgoblin stopped jumping around, looking at Rin.
"Keep it down, little friend. You're causing those humans a lot of trouble." Rin kneeled down, so he could talk to the demon. "Are you providing Amaimon with candy again?" The small goblin nodded in agreement. "Okay. Just take a bit and return home, okay? Don't just cause such a turmoil." Rin picked the demon up and put it down outside.
"How did you do that? Did you just talk to that raccoon?" The shopkeeper stuttered.
"Well, I just have a thing with raccoons." Rin smiled awkwardly.
"A promise is a promise. What can I get you, boy?"
A few minutes later, Rin walked out with two bags full with all sorts of cookies, cupcakes and sweets. He had spend all the money, he had stolen from his older brother.
"They really haven't taught you any manners, have they? A Prince doesn't just steal from his older brother and run away." Mephisto appeared behind him, wacking him at the back of his head with his umbrella. "Ow!" He let his bags fall down and held his head.
"You're becoming predictable. You're always near a candy shop. Picking up Amaimon's habits?" Mephisto joked, grabbing his younger brother from behind and dragging him back to the academy.
"That's it, you little sugar addict. Firstly, you will return my key. Secondly, I will find you a job, so you can pay me back that money you took from me and lastly, I won't get you any more cake, if you want some, make it yourself." Mephisto listed when they came back to the tower.
"What? That's so unfair! I don't know how to bake and I've also never worked in my life. I'm the Prince of Gehenna!" Normally, Rin would never play the "Prince of Gehenna"-card, but he didn't want to work and pay Mephisto the money back.
"Teenagers. . . I hope he doesn't stay that age forever. I can't handle a second Amaimon." Samael muttered to himself. "If you go through that door," A pink wooden door appeared in the wall. "You'll find a kitchen and everything you need to cook. See you tomorrow and get that temper of yours under control. You may be the Prince, but I am a King, Little Brother."
After Mephisto disappeared, Rin kicked a small trash can against the door. "Bastard" He muttered. It took him awhile, but in the end, Rin made his way to the kitchen. It wasn't really big. There was a fridge, a stove and a rather small table with just a single chair, everything in a sickening pink colour. "A little pink is okay, but Mephisto is overdoing it." Rin looked around. "I'm definitely not going cook anything." He determined stubbornly. But on the other hand, he really could use some cake after the frustration of being caught. "Well, it can't be that hard to cook something, can it?" He would at least try it. He took a glance into the fridge. "What do I even need?" There was so much stuff in there. Milk, chocolate and sugar, these were the ingredients Rin was sure about. But after mixing them together, he noticed that there was missing something. He added flour and some other ingredients. A brown dough was the final product of Rin's experiments. "Now, I have to bake it, I guess." He thought out loud and put it in the stove.
"Man, this is taking forever." Rin noticed impatiently only seconds after he put it in there.
He grinned as he got an idea that seemed brilliant in his mind. He focused on his cake and blue flames ignited inside the stove. "I'm a genius!" He snickered as he watched his flames baking the cake. A few minutes later, he took his creation out of the stove. "Well, it's a bit darker than I thought, but I guess that's okay."
He waited until it cooled down and greedily took a slice.
He took a large bite out of it and had to spit it out immediately.
It tasted absolutely disgusting. The black as coal dough, so Rin noticed now, was completely burned.
"This is harder than I thought."
Several cakes later, Rin gave up. He had gotten a lot better and his creations were at least edible, but they weren't what you would call tasty. He had been so concentrated that he didn't even notice that it was morning already.
Exactly at 7 o'clock, Mephisto walked into the room. "I see, you've been up all night. I hope your still ready for the job that I got you."
"You were serious about that?" Rin still did not feel like working. "Of course, you've costed me a lot of money. Also, as a King you will have to take responsibility. I heard that this is how human teenagers learn it. A job or a pet, and I'm definitely not going to buy a goldfish." The flamboyant man explained. "Now then, let's go!" He said enthusiastically. Rather bored, Rin followed him outside but was stopped before he could step through the door.
"Your tail." Mephisto pointed out. Rolling his eyes, Rin lifted his shirt and curled his tail around his body, hiding his tail. "You should really get used to that. How often do I have to tell you that this is your most vulnerable body part?" The Demon King lectured the boy. "Whatever." The teenager grumbled when they finally left.
The first thing Rin saw was a wooden cottage at the end of a stone path. "What is that?" He asked skeptically. "That's where you're going to work. Aren't you excited?" Mephisto grinned. "That's stupid. I don't get how this is going to help me become a King." The Prince complained. "Well, I don't care. Come with me." Mephisto walked towards the front door, Rin following him closely behind. "Good morning Mrs. Moriyama. It's great to see you. Thank you for giving my little brother a job." He greeted the woman behind the counter. "No problem. I need someone to help my daughter in the garden. She is too stubborn to admit that she really needs an aid." She waved it off. "You can go directly through that door. You will find my daughter in her garden." The mid aged woman instructed Rin. "Fine." He muttered in response and made his way to the door while glaring at Mephisto who said something about ignoring Rin's crappy behaviour.
When he stepped through the door, he found himself in a beautiful garden with loads of different herbs and flowers. A young, blond girl about Rin's age kneeled in a patch and planted some new flowers. "Umm. . . hello?" He shouted walking towards the blonde. She shrieked for a second an looked at him in shock. "Who are you? What are you doing in my garden?" She asked frightened. "Calm down. I'm supposed to work here." He explained shortly. He still tried to figure out why she was so afraid of him. Without attracting attention, he quickly checked if his tail or horns were visible. Fortunately, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary.
Rin was just standing in front of her in an awkward silence.
"I am Rin by the way." He said after a while. "My name is Shiemi." She introduced herself timidly. "You know, it's pretty rude not to stand up if you introduce yourself." Rin mentioned, crossing his arms. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I just can't stand up, because I'm sick." Shiemi apologized while blushing and looking at the ground. Once again there was this awkward silence. This would be a long day for Rin if Shiemi wouldn't talk to him.
It took her almost an hour until she finally told Rin how he could help her. Silently, the Prince carried some plant pots around the garden. While he worked, he took a look around the garden. He noticed a lot of small demons like Greenmen. "Hey Shiemi, did you know that you're getting a lot of help from these little guys?" He held up a little Greenman that was hanging on his finger. "Is that a demon? Why would they help me?" She asked looking at the small demon on Rin's index finger. "Why wouldn't they? The demons of Amaimon's kin love gardens like this one." He explained while putting the small demon down. "Amaimon? Who's that?" Shiemi wasn't studying at True Cross Academy, so she had never heard of the demon kings. "Oh he's just some demon." The Prince told her trying to keep his secret of being the son of Satan.
"Oh, I see. I thought all demons were bad, but these little ones seem to be really nice." The blonde watched curiously how Rin put the Greenman down. "Why does everyone think that demons are evil?" The raven haired teenager asked. "There are a lot of demons that harm people. My mother even thinks that a demon is the reason why I can't use my legs anymore." She explained, finally opening up a little. "Really? Can I see your legs? Maybe I can help you." Rin offered kindly. He saw that Shiemi was a really nice person and he didn't want her to suffer from this mysterious illness. At first, she hesitated but then she showed him her legs. It looked like there were roots growing inside of them. "It could be a dekalp." He thought out loud. "I will take care of it, okay?" He said to Shiemi giving her a confident smile. "Are you an exorcist?" She asked confused. "Well, no. Not really, but I can handle this."
"What do you think you're doing?" A omniscient voice could suddenly be heard in the garden.
"Are you the dekalp that is possessing Shiemi?" The Prince stayed calm, looking where the voice came from. Dekalps weren't strong demons and as soon as he knew that Rin was Satan's son he would let Shiemi go. While most demons in Gehenna attended Rin's coronation, not all that resided in Assiah arrived to see the Prince become a demon. It would make sense as to why this Dekalps doesn't recognize him despite his powerful aura.
"Who are you talking to, Rin?" He had forgotten that Shiemi couldn't hear demons the way he could.
"Get out of here!" The Dekalp roared and vines started growing around the blond girl.
"What is happening? Rin!" She shouted before going unconscious.
"Shiemi! Damn it. Hey! Do you even know who you're talking to?" The Prince reprimanded.
The Dekalp finally showed itself. It was growing largely behind Shiemi, levitating. Small horns of blue fire ignited on Rin's head, he was clenching his fists in anger. "Let her go, you bastard!"
Now, the demon seemed to recognize Rin. Stricken with fear, the Dekalp flinched and loosening the grip around Shiemi.
"My Prince, I'm sorry. Please forgive me my rudeness. I didn't recognize you."
"Why would you hurt this girl? She has done nothing wrong!"
"She was about to leave the garden. I couldn't let her do that!" The demon defended itself.
"And how did you get the idea that you have the right to keep her here? Demons like you are the reason why so many humans are afraid of us. She did something you don't like and you just harm her. You used her life force to keep the garden alive, didn't you? That's what the roots were for, right?" Rin was certainly not amused by this demon's behaviour.
"Every demon does that!" The Dekalp got angry and more confidant. "Don't you dare judge my methods! I don't care who you are if you try to kick me out of my garde-" He couldn't finish his sentence. Rin impaled a dagger into his head, causing him to fall lifeless.
It took Rin a while to calm down. He didn't mean to kill him but something just snapped inside of him.
For a moment, he just stood there in shock. His hands were shaking. "What have I done?" He muttered to himself.
The sight of Shiemi's unconscious body brought him back to reality.
"Shiemi!" He ran towards her.
The roots on her legs disappeared and the young Demon Prince picked the girl up carrying her inside.
Little did Rin know there was a flamboyant figure floating in the air overlooking his actions as we went about his day. "Interesting. Looks like a more violent nature is showing in my little brother. He truly his father's son. He even attacks other demons. Maybe I should do something about it. . . or I'll just lay back and watch." Mephisto concluded, watching over Rin.